All posts tagged: 25 gifts

Christmas plays and pageants, movies and books, present the nativity story in much the same way: Mary, very pregnant and sitting on a donkey; Joseph, leading her gently and trying to negotiate a room with an innkeeper; the stable, filled with animals and a soft glowing light; a fringe of haggard-looking shepherds at the stable door…. I think we’ve got a few things wrong. Sure, the main characters of the story are the same and the main events are the same, but some details have been blurred by the westernization of our retelling the nativity story. As I’ve pondered again this amazing opening scene of Jesus’ life story as a man, I’ve wondered at the nuances of context and culture that maybe we’ve failed to recognize. So I’ve been reading about the culture and times surrounding Jesus’ birth, tried to recognized and re-think the events in the context of this information. Here’s a little bit of an idea, a new way to think about Jesus’ birth. // Mary shifted her position and popped a pomegranate …

So when we sing along this Christmas, we are singing the miraculous, the preserved and inspired words that hold the promise of hope that all people need. We need light. We need perspective. We need this king and friend and this thrill of hope.

Several years ago, when Angelo and I were young and just starting out in life together, we attended a toxic church. We didn’t know it was toxic, and we were young, and green and willing to jump in and help. We served by helping in the youth ministry with junior high kids. A ragtag bunch of kids met with us in the church basement where we tried to lead worship, share the gospel, and be their friends. Most of the kids lived in the apartments around the church, some were from church-going families. Sometimes the kids would be so ornery during youth group we wondered why they came at all. Our pastor at the time warned us one day about investing too much in these rowdy neighborhood kids. He said the goal of the ministries of the church was to bring people into the church as regulars. Regular attenders who would become regular members, who would regularly serve in ministries themselves and become regular givers. He said if a ministry didn’t provide material growth, …

I love knowing you. I love knowing that you’re there and sometimes you read my words and we can through this weird thing called the internet, connect in community. I have been a church-girl for a long time and honestly, the community has hurt and confused me. Sometimes I’ve hurt others. We are each one imperfect and in-process. So, our community won’t always be ideal. But, the goal of Christ and the promise is that we will be complete one day. Until then, let’s look for opportunities to uplift one another, forgive one another and face heavenward together.

This is a story about a king who would be born, raised up to power and chosen by God to free his people from captivity, to return them to their homeland and restore them. But it’s not a story about Jesus.